Adrian girls soccer tops Tecumseh to split series

Tuesday

May 22, 2018 at 2:00 PM

In the first contest between the Adrian and Tecumseh girls soccer teams this season, it took 73 minutes for a team to find the back of the net.

Monday afternoon's Southeastern Conference White Division contest between the Indians and Maples saw that trend end. Vanessa Hernandez struck six minutes into the game, and the Maples rode the early momentum to a 4-2 victory.

“The last time we played them, we were missing a couple players,” said Adrian coach Rangariro Mutatu, “and we got them back, and for the last three games, we've been picking up some momentum. We changed our formation, and we went more offensive this time, instead of defensively.”

The Maples (7-5-2, 5-4 SEC White) were led by Hernandez's pair of goals, both coming on long passes that allowed her to use her speed to get past the Tecumseh backs.

Hernandez also helped set up a goal. In the 58th minute, she drove into the 18-yard box, getting pulled down by a Tecumseh defender. Madison Kendall converted the ensuing penalty kick to make it 3-1.

“We came in here knowing that I had speed,” Hernandez said, “so it was one of our plans, and it was really nice to see that it worked out.”

Mallory Marvin had the other goal for Adrian, and Maples goalkeeper Caroline Lewis stopped nine of 11 shots to get the win.

Tecumseh (7-7, 4-7) kept Adrian from pulling away, with two goals from Sydney Slusarski to go with a pair of assists from Samantha Moodt. Indians goalkeeper Livia Osworth stopped six of 10 shots.

“With the injuries we have, particularly on defense, we have no one to cover (Henandez),” Tecumseh coach Thomas Goodman said, “so they'd send it up to her and beat us on pace.”

Adrian got a chance in the fifth minute that Osworth was able to clear, but a minute later, Hernandez was able to elude the Indians’ backs and fire a shot that beat Osworth inside the left post. Less than a minute later, Marvin was able to take a feed and fire one home to make it 2-0.

The Indians cut the gap back to one four minutes later, as Slusarski took a pass from Moodt, battled through a pair of Maple defenders and fired a shot that beat Lewis to cut the gap to 2-1.

Both teams had chances soon after. Moodt nearly equalized in the 29th, but had her shot denied by Lewis. Lina Hennig had her shot bank off the left post with six minutes left in the half, and Tecumseh's last good look, a shot from Slusarski with two minutes left, was parried away by the fingertips of Lewis.

In the 57th minute, Hernandez was pulled down, and Kendall easily converted the PK to put Adrian up by two.

Tecumseh responded quickly.

Slusarski got the ball off of a redirected cross from Moodt that landed on the edge of the box and fired a left-footed shot that made it a 3-2 game a minute after Kendall's PK tally.

Six minutes later, Moodt had a golden opportunity to level the match on a counter, but Lewis slid down and broke up the attack. In the 67th minute, Slusarski nearly tied it on a long shot that broke wide of the left post.

Just a minute later, Hernandez got to another long aerial out of her own zone, outpacing the Indians defenders, before slotting the ball neatly past Osworth and setting off cheers from the Maples' fans.

“I was super excited,” Hernandez said, “and I knew right then and there that we had won the game.”

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